This paper examines the ways in which a select number
of immigrant Persian Baháí families have carried their
cultural values to the United States, how this move
has affected the development of their children, how
the parents have interacted with the larger society
and what effect participation in the American Baháí
community has had on the cultural adaptation process.
The data for this study were drawn from a survey of
parents and children conducted in 1997 and from the authors personal
experience with this cultural group. For the purpose
of this study, the survey was constrained to two-parent
households in the Los Angeles, California area with
at least one employed breadwinner fluent in English,
both parents immigrant Persian Baháís, and at least
one English-speaking child of school age available
to participate in the survey.

The goal of this study was to ascertain the cultural
identity of the Persian Baháí parents and their children
and note areas of congruence and divergence. The survey
asked participants to respond to a variety of statements
concerning perceptions about Persian culture, their
involvement with the American school system, marriage
and child-rearing, and overall level of activity in
the American Baháí community. The questions included
both topics unique to each group as well as a few questions
in common to form the basis for a comparison by generation.

Overview of the Baháí Faith

The Baháí (ba-HIGH) Faith is a world religion based
on the teachings of Baháulláh (ba-HA-oo-LAH) [1817-1892]
that began in Persia (now Iran). The Baháí faith is
the most widely spread religion in the world today
after Christianity and claims approximately six million
adherents in over 200 countries and territories. The
central principles of the Baháí Faith are the oneness
of God, the oneness of mankind and a common spiritual
foundation to the worlds great religious systems.
Arising from these principles are several social teachings
embraced by all Baháís, regardless of culture: the
independent investigation of the truth; the equality
of man and women; the abolition of all forms of prejudice;
science and religion must be in harmony; universal
compulsory education; the use of an international auxiliary
language; the protection of cultural diversity; and
that there is a spiritually-based and practical solution
to the worlds economic problems (Baháí International
Community 1992).

The Baháí community has no priesthood but is instead
organized around democratically elected governing bodies
at the local, national and international levels. To
date the Baháí Faith has avoided many of the division
and schisms that fractured previous religions that
followed the death of the founder. This is important
for the Persian Baháís of this study because in addition
to being members of a mother culture they can also
claim membership in what many historians are now coming
to recognize as the first truly cohesive, global community.

History of the Persian Baháí Community

The Baháís are the largest minority group in Iran,
numbering approximately five hundred thousand persons.
Nonetheless, since its inception in the mid 1800s,
the Persian Baháí community has suffered consecutive
waves of persecution in the country of its origin.
Within the first twenty-five years, many thousands
of adherents were systematically executed by institutions
of the Islamic state in the name of preserving traditional
Islamic values. Baháulláh himself was exiled from
the country in 1852 and eventually passed away in Akka
(near Haifa, Israel), still a political prisoner (Zahoori
1990).

The most recent wave of refugees of Persians to the
US has resulted from persecutions connected to the
1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution. The US Congress and
United Nations have condemned these pogroms, including
a recently uncovered Iranian government mandate to
destroy the Persian Baháí cultural roots in Iran and
abroad. These persecutions continue despite Baháí
teachings and impartial testimony of outside groups
that obedience to government and reverence for Islam
are cornerstones of the Baháí faith. Almost all the
families participating in this survey have fled to
the US (or remained here) as a direct result of this
latest wave of persecution.

Results of the Survey

Two separate questionnaires, with twenty-five questions
each, were developed by the author for this study.
The participants were asked to respond to a variety
of statements about culture and family life, schooling
and Baháí community life, with a range of possible
responses: Strongly Agree (True), Generally Agree,
Generally Disagree or Strongly Disagree (False).
The numerical results of this survey are included at
the end of this paper. The children were asked to fill
out one version of the questionnaire individually while
the parents were asked to complete their questionnaire
as a couple.

Each of the eight families surveyed could be described
as middle class or upper middle class and in about
one-half of the families the breadwinner was self-employed.
The gender of the children was 8 males and 9 females.
Their ages ranged from 10 to 31 years old, with a median
age of 15.7 years. All the parents surveyed were Persian
and Baháí and all the children and parents are active,
English-speaking members of the Baháí Faith.

Cultural Self-Identification of the Children
Nearly all the seventeen children in the survey were
raised her in the United States. Their cultural self-identification
split evenly on the notion of being more Persian than
American with a majority considering themselves about
equally Persian and American. One ten-year-old girl
insisted rather emphatically that she is a world citizen
and was uncomfortable with being placed in any one
national category. Nonetheless, in one-half of the
families both of these notions could be found among
the children. In one family, though, the two oldest
respondents (sisters, aged 26 and 31) chose to strongly
disagree with both these statements, as did the only
child of another family.

As a group the children do not consider the local Persian
immigrant population as their primary source for new
friends and acquaintances but they do very much enjoy
some aspects of Persian culture (food, music) in their
leisure time outside the home. Though almost all the
children have attended some kind of special Persian
language or cultural classes, they are split on their
enthusiasm for speaking the Persian language (Farsi)
with friends outside the home.

Children and the School Environment
The majority of the children have attended private primary
or secondary school at some point but as a group are
split on the perception that the school system is supportive
of their Persian culture. One high school girl identified
a male instructor who dislikes Persians in general
but views her as a nice exception. While just a few
children have experiences problems with other students
because of prejudice against Persians, all of them
report no difficulty in sharing their Baháí Faith
with their classmates or speaking up to correct someone
who has confused them with Persian Muslims. With regard
to fitting in into the school milieu, the group
is split on the notion that it is easier to get along
with Americans than non-Baháí Persians (i.e. Muslims),
or that their parents involvement in school has made
a big impact on their acculturation. Although explaining
Persian family values to their friends can sometimes
be difficult, neither the Persian culture nor the Baháí
belief system (with its emphasis on sexual abstinence
before marriage) appear to be a social obstacle.

Children and Life Choices
The children reported little if any parental pressure
in how they selected their friends and a s a group
are split on the notion that social class and education
are the dominant factor in the process in choosing
friends. For a potential spouse, however, the clear
preference is to marry another Baháí, even if that
person is not a Persian. In fact the group as a whole
is very much against the notion of marrying someone
simply because of culture. Nearly all the children,
however, expect to live with their parents until they
get married and expect their children, in turn, to
be able to speak Farsi.

Within the Persian Baháí household, nearly all the
children report that their parents expected them to
officially declared themselves members of the Baháí
community at the age of maturity (15 years old). The
children generally (though not wholeheartedly) consider
their parents to be good examples of what it means
to be an active member of the Baháí community. All
the children report attending at least one Baháí function
a month apart from family functions.

Cultural Adaptation by the Parents
In addition to leaving their homeland to avoid persecution
for being Baháí, nearly all the couples surveyed suffered
a period of separation from family members as a results
of their forced emigration. In one case, a father managed
to get his family safely out of Iran before the Islamic
Revolution, only to become detained again when he went
back to take care of personal affairs. He eventually
escaped in secret through Pakistan with other countrymen.

The parents see aspects of the Persian culture such
as language, music and food as an important gift to
their children but are not overly worried that American
culture might be somehow making their children less
Persian. They do not, however, support the notion
that it would automatically be easier for the children
to grow up as good Baháís back in Iran, even if the
persecutions magically stopped. As for their own adaptation
to American culture, the parents view their children
as an important but not the only significant factor.

Parental Expectations for Children
The parents as a group would prefer their children (daughters
a bit more than sons) to live at home until they get
married, though they realize that this may not be possible,
especially as it pertains to the child attending a
good college. The parents are very strongly in favor
of their child marrying another Baháí and are definitely
against the notion of marrying someone just because
the person is an Iranian. They overwhelmingly expect
that their grandchildren will speak Farsi.

School Involvement
The parents as a group believe that the schools (both
public and private) do not do enough to promote spiritual
values in the curriculum or to encourage their childrens
Persian heritage, Nonetheless, all but one parent actively
participates in school-related activities e.g. PTA,
fund-raisers) and all the parents generally feel comfortable
sharing with other (American) parents the role the
Baháí Faith plays in their lives.

Involvement in the American Baháí Community
All the parents consider themselves active Baháís and
interact at least once a month with non-Persians through
their local Baháí community. In general, they do not
fear that heir children will fail to grow up to be
active Baháís. All but two couples agree that being
Baháí has made it easier for them as parents to adapt
to life in the US.

Perceptions of the Persian Immigrant Community in
the US
While the parents do not report any real difficulties
in interacting with non-Baháí Persians in the US (i.e.
usually Muslims) they do believe that the Persian Baháí
immigrant community in this country is noticeably distinct
from the Persian Muslim immigrant community. This survey
did not ask them to elaborate on these differences,
though most parents attribute the distinct Persian
Baháí cultural identity to social class and education,
not necessarily to difference in religion.

Conclusions

One conclusion from this study is that for this limited
group of families, the acculturation process is moving
along fairly smoothly and with benefits to both parent
and child. With regard to cultural values in the home
and expectations for marriage, the children and parents
are in remarkably close agreement. The parents have
made significant efforts to inculcate an appreciation
for Persian heritage into their children and can claim
some success in this matter. There is no evidence of
the extreme cultural reactions sometimes seen in refugee
families: total abandonment of the home culture by
children ashamed of their parents heritage (Cummins
1986) or the formation of xenophobic enclaves with
a very limited circles of associates. A combination
of factors such as a generally high level of parental
education, a relatively adequate economic condition,
and regular access to non-Persians through the American
Baháí community all seem to have mitigated the social
and psychological pressured normally experienced by
refugees.

The culturally supportive nature of the Baháí community
and the role of English in the home are also important
factors for this group of families. As noted by Geula
(1991), the Persian language and customs can serve
as the glue to maintain family unity (and contact
with relatives back in Iran) while the acquisition
of English serves to improve the economic prospects
and global citizenship of the children. As Baháís,
the parents of these children not only appreciate the
utility of this outward-looking bi-culturalism, they
actually advocate it. This sense of mission separates
them from their non-Baháí countrymen who may have
come to the US for purely political or economic reasons.

In fact, the Persian Baháí community has a long tradition
of (willingly) leaving Iran to demonstrate the efficacy
of the Baháí teachings by moving as pioneers to
towns and village around the world. A few of the children
surveyed have been sent abroad by their parents ion
teaching vacations and at least one family has actually
vacationed overseas for this same purpose. This suggests
that within the context of the American Baháí community
these Persian families find enough support for their
mother culture that they can embark on developing a
family sub-culture of their own, something that Popenoe
(1988) states is a powerful element of trans-generational
family unity.

In summary, this survey of a limited number of Persian
families suggests that it is possible for immigrant
families to find support for their traditions within
a generally indifferent American society. paradoxically,
as in the case of the American Baháí community, such
a support system can engender loyalty to a broader
spectrum of humanity. In the process of children becoming
world citizens, the fears of parents regarding cultural
inheritance subside because through this paradigm the
children are actually able to carry abroad and contribute
to human society the best that the mother culture has
to offer.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Baháí International Community (1992) The Baháís.
Baháí International Community Office of Public Information,
New York.

Geula, Keyvan (1991) The role of an international auxiliary
language in the cultural welfare of ethnic families
in transition: Presentation of a board game for teaching
Persian to the Persian children abroad. Unpublished
Master of Science research paper, University of La
Verne, California.

Popenoe, D. (1988), cited in Geula (1991). Distributing
the nest: Family change and decline in modern societies.
In P. Rossi &n M. Useem & J,D, Wright (eds.) Social
Institutions and Social Change. Hawthorne, New
York: Aldine de Gruyter.

Please read the following questions and
choose one of the following responses that best represents
your opinion:Strongly Agree (SA) Generally Agree
(GA), Generally Disagree (GD), Strongly Disagree
(SD)

QUESTIONS
FOR THE PARENTS (Please respond as a couple)

SA

GA

GD

SD

1.
The parents of this family are both Baháís.

8

0

2.
The parents of this family are both Persian.

8

0

3.
Our family left Iran to avoid persecution related to
the 1979 Revolution.

4

4

4.
Our family left Iran before persecution of the Baháís
became a major problem.

7

1

5.
Leaving Iran caused some family members to be separated
for a time.

7

1

6.
Most or all of our children were born and raised in
the US.

7

1

7.
Our children have played a big part in helping us adapt
to the American culture.

1

4

2

1

8.
A big part of being Persian is the ability to appreciate
and practice the fine arts (music, cooking, dance,
art).

3

4

1

0

9.
We are concerned that the influence of American culture
is making our children less Persian.

1

4

3

0

10.
It would be easier for our children to maintain Baháí
values back in Iran, were it not for the persecution.

1

2

4

1

11.
It is O.K. if a son moves out of the house before he
is married, if he can afford it.

0

5

3

0

12.
It is O.K. if a daughter moves out of the house before
she is married, if she can afford it.

0

3

2

3

13.
We would prefer that our children marry another Persian
(even if he/she is not a Baháí).

0

0

5

3

14.
We would feel comfortable if our children married another
Baháí, regardless of culture.

3

5

0

0

15.
We expect our grand-children to speak Farsi.

4

3

1

0

16.
The curriculum at our childs school does not place
enough emphasis on spiritual values.

11.
My parents involvement with school has helped me fit
into the American culture.

2

5

4

6

12.
My parents pretty much let me choose my own friends.

7

5

3

2

13.
I generally get along better with Americans than with
non-Baháí Persians.

9

0

7

1

14.
If people mistake me for a Muslim, I speak up right
away to correct them.

12

5

0

0

15.
I sometimes have trouble explaining Persian family
values to my American friends.

2

7

4

4

16.
I sometimes feel a conflict between being a Baháí
and wanting to fit in with my friends.

4

1

5

7

17.
It is better for a Persian to marry another Persian
(even if he/she is not a Baháí).

0

3

3

11

18.
It is better for a Baháí to marry another Baháí ,
regardless of culture.

10

6

1

0

19.
I think the Persian family culture is sometimes too
strict with children.

5

4

4

4

20.
I would like to live (or did live) with my parents
until getting married.

12

5

21.
I think that a persons social class and education
determine whom he/she will pick as friends.

5

5

6

1

22.
I expect that my children will be able to speak Farsi.

13

2

2

0

23.
I participate in Baháí activities at least once a
month apart from my parents.

17

0

24.
My parents expect(ed) me to declare myself a Baháí
when I become fifteen years old.

14

3

25.
I look to my parents as examples of what it means to
be an active Baháí.

10

5

1

1

About the Author

Stephen Licata in an aerospace engineer who lives and
works in Pasadena, California with his Peruvian wife
Juliana and their one-year-old son Jimmy. This paper
was written in 1997 as Stephen completed the UCLA certificate
program in Teaching English as a Foreign Language.
Stephen and Juliana often give public talks on Bahai
family life and travel frequently in the hope that
they can impart to their son the same world citizenship
perspective enjoyed by many of the young people in
this survey. Stephen may be reached by e-mail at sjlsre@aol.com.